prestigiazione.it wrote:Hello, Bill Simon named his move "Business Card Prophecy Move" in his book "Effective Card Magic" in the 1952...

But sometimes it is also spelled as "Prophesy"....

Which is the right one?

Did he?

The routine is called "Business Card Prophesy," but he didn't give the "move" a name. This is partly why for, years, I called it the "Simon Turnover." The move's popularity has increased in recent times and along the way has acquired (almost) by default, the name "Prophesy Move".Which is why I’ve abandoned the “Turnover Move” and opted for the (now) more familiar “Prophesy Move” term.

Scarne credited Simon, but didn’t dignify the procedure by giving it any name.

As for for which is correct, if we’re working from Simon’s name for the trick, it’s “Prophesy”. Dictionary definitions and suchlike don’t count. It’s a name, not a grammar exercise. He could just as easily have called it “Bizness Kard Profesy” and it would have been correct.

Americans really have no idea how to spell. The word in the Simon context should be PROPHECY. Here it is a noun. The verb is PROPHESY. I should know. As a psychic reverend I make prophecies all the time.

Since it appears to be an accidental error of ignorance rather than deliberate stylistic choice as in Leo G's "Bizness Kard Profesy," I see little problem silently correcting it to "Business Card Prophecy" when writing about it elsewhere, except in a strict bibliographical context.

In that situation, I might spell the title as published, but use [sic] to mark the error as belonging to the original writer: "Business Card Prophesy[sic]".

Ted M wrote:Unfortunately Bill Simon misspelled it as "Prophesy" in his book.

Since it appears to be an accidental error of ignorance rather than deliberate stylistic choice as in Leo G's "Bizness Kard Profesy....." I see little problem silently correcting it to "Business Card Prophecy" when writing about it elsewhere, except in a strict bibliographical context.

Since it appears to be an accidental error of ignorance rather than deliberate stylistic choice as in Leo G's "Bizness Kard Profesy,"

Misspelled? Accidental. Really?

We can speculate on this from now till last week and beyond. That is, what appears to be what and what doesn’t and on what day of the week this was written and anything else we think suits our individual feelings and moods.

But it won’t alter the fact that “Business Card Prophesy” is the title Simon gave to the trick. Or should that be “appears to have given?” Might have been Hugard, who might have consulted Braue, who might not. Whichever and whatever, that’s what’s in the book.

And being a title, it’s a name and being a name makes it (the title) a noun. A proper noun. Even though it’s three words.

The word “prophesy” does not appear in the text other than as part of the title. Twice. The word “prediction” does, but what that signifies, if anything, is open to further speculation, for any so inclined..

As for pronunciation, well that’s another twilight zone. Speculation rules.

I’ll call it “Prophesy” and pronounce it “Prophecy”. I have done for several weeks now and and have yet to suffer any pangs of regret.Anyone who considers this to be some sort of transgression and wishes to chide me over the matter, is of course entirely at liberty to do so. And likely will. Free Choice. No Force.